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The Story So Far
In Crescentwood Lucius Auvray lived a fairly peaceful life in his father’s manor overlooking the much coveted Darkwood groves. That peace was shattered by the sudden and horrible murder of his father and brother one stormy evening. Battling through well-armed mercenaries wearing an insignia of a red hand, he arrived in his father’s chambers all too late. His father’s dying words beseeched Lucius to take his family’s most secret treasure, a small wooden box containing a small seed referred to only as the seed of magic, to the bustling city of Bastian and find there his uncle Bruno. With a heavy heart, Lucius set off on the road to the port town of Saulles to charter a ship across the sea to Bastian. Joining him were his old friends Polmit, the Gnomish Musician and Molkrex the Half-Orc mystic. Also accompanying them was Rusilka, a Dwarven druid and keeper of the sacred Darkwood groves, who has a vested interest in the survival of the seed, and Sebastian, the manors master-at-arms and old friend of Lucius’ father. Through trials and struggles on the road, they found themselves in the nearby town of Ansfeld. Entering the town late, they witnessed the militant and magic-fearing Order of Duclasy burn two villagers on a pyre; only to be stunned as one of the convicts turned into a magical beast and fled the scene. What followed was a series of grisly murders that the group felt compelled to solve. Their investigation led them to some ruins outside the town and deep into the crypts beneath. In the depths of the crypt, they found a cavern and within, a brilliant white tree bathed in sunlight, golden waters lapping at it’s base. They were forced to defend themselves and the tree as the convict from the execution sought to corrupt and drain the tree with foul magics. Fending off their assailant, they took stock of their wounds; before Molkrex, finally revealing his magical nature, was overtaken by a lust to steal the tree’s power for himself. It took his friend’s combined efforts to break him from his trance and return him to sense. Finally making it to Saulles, their beliefs shaken and their friendships tested, the group sought a ship to carry them across the water to Bastian. Only one would make such a trip; The Young King, captained by the loquacious Captain Marcel Lagarde. Though aspects of Largarde’s tale didn’t ring true, the group found themselves at his mercy if they were to get to their goal. But before he would ferry onward, he sent them to retrieve some of his cargo, confiscated from him by the local port authority. Breaking into the authority was a breeze and with Marcel’s cargo back in his hold, they set sail for Bastian; the winds at their backs and a troubling few days behind them. The days at sea proved to be long and dull, seeking to be of use the group volunteered where possible. Days later the deck was abuzz when a castaway was discovered. A singular survivor from a pirate attack, he told a troubling tale. Weak from his ordeal he gave what little detail he could be passing out in the hold. It was within days that crew members started to vanish. Springing into action, the group discovered their stowaway to be none other than a doppelganger with a penchant for fire. His cover blown he rushed to destroy the ship by igniting it’s powder store. Thinking quickly Molkrex used his magic to throw the flaming material far from the ship, saving everyone from a slow death beneath the waves. After a struggle, the doppelganger followed suit. In the following week life on the ship returned to normal and they made good speed towards Bastian. In their final days approach to Bastian a ship gained on them. As it got closer, a cry went up from the crow’s nest: ‘Black sails with a red hand!’. The group knew what that meant. The mercenaries were on them within minutes. A cannonade from the enemy devastated the ship, wounding the unprepared crew. The group jumped to fill their roles, taking the ship’s wheel and beating a hasty retreat, firing at the enemy with the ship’s guns when possible. Their escape seemed all but certain when an assassin clad in black leather burst onto their decks in a blast of magic. Making quick work of the group he dove for Lucius and the seed in his possession, but was pushed out of the way at the last second by Polmit and the two of them pitched over the ship of the ship into the water below. Rushing to spot their companion in the seas beneath all that could be seen was the rapidly dissipating telltale signs of magic...